The leader of the 30 million-member National Association of Evangelicals, a vocal opponent of same-sex marriage, resigned Thursday after being accused of paying for sex with a man in monthly trysts over the past three years.The Rev. Ted Haggard, a married father of five who has been called one of the most influential evangelical Christians in the nation, denied the allegations. His accuser refused to share voice mails that he said backed up his claim.Haggard also stepped aside as head of his 14,000-member New Life Church while a church panel investigates, saying he could "not continue to minister under the cloud created by the accusations." "I am voluntarily stepping aside from leadership so that the overseer process can be allowed to proceed with integrity," Haggard said in a written statement. "I hope to be able to discuss this matter in more detail at a later date."... http://www.msnbc.msn.com

Taxpayers across the nation are voicing concern over tax subsidies for private sports teams. One of those debates is occurring in Seattle, Wash, centered on the National Basketball Association's SuperSonics. Citizens for More Important Things, founded in 1995, recently submitted 17,700 petition signatures to qualify an initiative to give Seattle voters a chance to block the Sonics' shot at possible tax subsidies for a new stadium. The proposal will be on the November ballot unless the city council adopts it without a vote of the public. The council also may write an alternative proposal and place both proposals on the ballot. It has until mid-October to decide. Initiative 91 would require the city to receive a return "at or above fair market value" for any taxpayer investment in KeyArena or another facility leased to "for-profit professional sports organizations." "Fair market value" is defined by I-91 as "no less than the rate of return on a 30-year U.S. Treasury Bond." If approved ...http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=20024

Things are not looking good -- for the president, for his party and for an entire caste of Washington officials who, in the last six years, have gotten used to the idea that their control over the country is unshakable, almost a law of nature. The situation is so desperate that President George W. Bush sees himself forced to campaign on behalf of someone like Congressman Don Sherwood. Pennsylvania's 10th congressional district was once Republic territory, with Sherwood capturing 92 percent of the vote in the last election. It was considered a lost cause for Democrats. But this year even the president himself has come to the district to campaign for the congressman. According to the latest opinion polls, Sherwood is expected to lose the race. Bush, in a last-ditch attempt to save his fellow Republican's seat, is torturing himself through his standard speech, speaking to a half-empty room at Keystone College in La Plume. If the Democrats win a majority in Congress in the Nov. 7 ...http://www.spiegel.de/international/spiegel/0,1518,446035,00.html

Flush with oil profits, President Hugo Chavez handed public workers $3 billion in Christmas bonuses 1 1/2 months early, angering opposition leaders, who called it part of a cynical pattern of public handouts ahead of a December presidential election. Opponents said the government spending spree includes free commuter train rides, a free rock concert and a powerful propaganda machine that has painted pro-Chavez slogans on buses and handed out T-shirts bearing the image of the former paratroop commander, known as "El Comandante." Mr. Chavez did not attend yesterday's ceremony at which the bonuses were announced. However, during the inauguration of a medical clinic broadcast on state television, he wished Venezuelans happy holidays, saying everyone would soon be singing local carols called gaitas and eating hallacas, corn-flour tamales wrapped in plantain leaves and shared among family and friends throughout December. "The beginning of the holiday season: ...http://www.washingtontimes.com/world/20061102-012254-7354r.htm

US labour productivity growth was at a standstill in the three months to the end of September, the latest indication that the American economy is slowing. With analysts expecting productivity to grow 1.1% in the third quarter, the zero growth rate from the Labor Department came as a surprise. Unit labour costs were up 5.3% from the same period in 2005, the worst annual rise in 24 years. The figures will increase inflation fears at the US Federal Reserve. "Both the productivity and labour costs were pretty weak numbers and it adds to growing concern that economically speaking things aren't looking all that wonderful," said Collins Stewart analyst Michael Panzner. "The combination could lead at least some investors to start talking stagflation." The Labor Department measures productivity as the amount of output per hour of work....http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6110470.stm

Gunmen killed the Shiite dean of Baghdad University's school of administration and economics on Thursday — the 155th Iraqi academic murdered in sectarian violence and revenge attacks since the 2003 U.S. invasion. In another attack against majority Shiites, a motorcycle bomb struck a crowded market in Sadr City, killing seven people and wounding 45, police said, just two days after the U.S. lifted a military blockade of the Baghdad district on the orders of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. The rigged motorcycle was left in a section of the Mereidi market that specialized in the sales of secondhand motorbikes and spare parts. The attack raised the total number of people killed or found dead around Iraq on Thursday to 49. Sadr City is a stronghold of the militia, which is loyal to radical anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. Associated Press Television News footage showed ...http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2006-11-02-policemen-deaths_x.htm?csp=34